The Color of Light
by bio-damper
Summary: Prince Marth is plagued by nightmares, the Hero of Time isn't feeling himself, and Roy wants to leave the Mansion and the pointless fighting far behind...


Something was wrong with the light.

The way it fell down from the heavens, twisting round in the sky before drifting into itself and disappearing. He raised a tentative hand to the sun, not quite knowing what he was hoping for.

The light was so far away...

It seemed to dance, just out of reach, slipping through his hesitant fingers. He looked up: it was probably the middle of the day, but the land was draped in unfeeling shadows.

_For light would not touch this place._

Dropping his hand to his side, sadly, his fingertips brushed against the ornate hilt of the sword. With clenched fingers, he drew it out with one fluid motion. The sword itself was something only he could wield, for what reason, he could not guess, but had been the cause of so much anger, and fear. And fighting.

He hated the fighting so much.

The broken bodies, the sleepless nights that never ended, empty eyes of dying men, forced words of bravery and courage (even though the existence of such ideas seemed unreal in this world), the torn flesh, and spilt blood (and the feeling of shock when he discovered that these things just become the events of another day, another week, another month, in life) the pain - oh god, the pain - the blunt metal forcing it's way beneath his skin, the consuming pain that devoured his will, left him screaming into the night, and the tears that never came, only a strange numbing feeling that encompassed what was left of his soul --

Drawing a shuddering breath, he walked further into darkness. Closer to the end of everything. The end of all his struggles summed up to walking into the Darkness, and then defeating it.

He was looking for the Monster.

And found it all too soon.

* * *

The Beast exploded from underneath the charred rocky soil, pushing its head far up into the atmosphere. It was huge, and ancient, its limbs raw red, black, with hide seemingly melted onto its skeletal frame. Horns, like giant spikes protruded from its great ridged head.

The jaws parted, revealing rows of thin jagged teeth. They were curved slightly inwards, just like those of a snake.

The Dragon Demon Medeus opened its yellow glassy orbs, silted pupils dilating. Lifting the rest of its massive body from the earth with sickle-like talons, it turned its neck towards towards the swordsman with a crack.

Spreading broken wings, and letting a scream rip from its throat, the streak of living darkness raged towards the boy.

* * *

He barely had the time to jump out of the way, as the Dragon flung itself viciously at him, it's jaws snapping and clenching mindlessly. He only had seconds to recover before the Monster struck again, clawed limbs, and whip-like tail sending him sprawling in the ash and dirt, and rolling halfway down the crevice from where the Dragon had first appeared. The black dust made him choke, and gasp. It got in his eyes and nostrils, leaving him heaving for air. Half-blind, he staggered once again to his feet, sliding on the loose ash, eyes wild, seeking out his enemy.

With a scream, the Dragon reappeared from nowhere, wings beating up tendrils of black filth that hung in the still air. Its snout plunged into the soil, feet away from the startled figure, who saw his chance, and struck.

Leaping, sword held high in one gloved hand, he drove the blade deep within the Dragon's flesh, and held it there, pushing deeper, encouraged by the Demon's single, scream of anguish.

And yet the Monster wasn't finished.

Spurts of white flame jetted out from within its throat, as the Dragon attempted to dislodge him. He felt a detached sort of pain as the intense heat washed over his chestplate, and flecks of melted metal dripped onto his bare skin.

Gritting his teeth, he merely wrenched the sword downwards. Medeus bellowed, writhing in pain, and beat his thorny wings against his body, and the desperate swordsman.

Thin spines thrashed his largely unprotected limbs, leaving criss-crossing red lines on his body.

With a short gasp, his vision blurred, as several short spines detached themselves, buried underneath his skin. Shaking fingers released their hold on the long sword. Medeus gave a ferocious lash of his tail, the very tip catching his shoulder, flipping him over, face in the dirt.

With a snort, the Dragon pulled the sword out of its back leg, and tossed it some yards away from the broken figure.

The swordsman couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. His whole body was on fire...the toxic ash was clotting the blood as it flowed from open wounds.

The sword was by his side. And yet he couldn't reach it.

Because the presence that had invaded his mind told him not to.

_"Human..."_

He turned himself over.

_"You have failed."_

Medeus was speaking inside his mind. Medeus was inside his mind.

The darkness he found there was overwhelming.

It was the absence of light too. The absolute nothingness that was created from it. He was just a splinter of the Void...his life, a mistake, born from its solitude.

And he was scared.

_"What did you hope to achieve on this cold Earth."_

And he looked into the Monster's eyes and found something inside that was immensely more powerful than the bestial exterior.

_"You were too weak."_

"No!"

He felt the presence in his mind tighten its grip.

_"Then why did they all die?"_

A grey tongue snaked out between the fangs floating just above his head.

He felt his breath catch in his throat.

"I wasn't strong enough."

The presence slackened its grip on his consciousness, the despair flooding in on its own accord now.

He closed his eyes, shutting out everything except for the voice.

_"Yes. And it is for this same reason that you will die too."_

And in that very moment, Medeus loosed its hold on his mind to attack physically.

The swordsman opened his eyes. Reached for the blade. And flung his arm skywards, bracing himself.

With tremendous force, Medeus slammed into him, the sword piercing through inside it's mouth, and carring on into its brain.

The swordsman felt his knees buckle, but did not withdraw the sword. The weight of the Dragon pushed the sword further inside its cranium. The swordsman was halfway inside the Demon's mouth, deadly fangs surrounding him.

Medeus didn't scream this time. Instead there was more of a intense silence, crushing his eardrums.

_"Fool."_

The silence deepened.

"No one can defeat me. As long as there is malice, confusion, misery, despair in the minds of others, I will live on. With light, there will always be darkness. As long as humans exist, i will feed and thrive in their hatred."

The Beast's body went limp, dead weight breaking the man's arm, which had no more strength to hold the sword up anymore. A cry of pain catching in his throat, he staggered out of the Demon's jaws, avoiding the fangs, and slipping on the black blood that trickled from the gaping wound.

He stumbled as far away from the Dragon as he could, before dropping the sword from nerveless fingers and collapsing on the ground.

With half open eyes, he saw the light falling from the heavens, banishing the shadows back into the ground.

But he wondered why he still felt so cold.

"You have failed."

Marth woke up with a start. His hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat, and with breathing was shaky and unsteady. With a shudder, he pushed the covers off him and swung his legs over the side of the bed, while rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Nightmares again," he thought, frowning.

Stretching, he stood up, and walked over the window, pulling back the blinds.

The sun was just rising, casting a red glow over the Mansion, bathing the grounds with light.

* * *

**-end of chapter one-**

* * *

Author's Notes:

So how'd you like it? I thought I'd try writing a marthxroy fic (because you can never have too many of those, can you?) so here it is! (it also contains yaoi/slash or whatever you want to call it...hence the "marthxroy" stated above). Yes, the story will take place in the smash mansion (or just "the Mansion") and in...other worlds :)

Ummm, all the characters belong to Nintendo, i guess, but the plot is mine...ALL MINE. Begins to laugh maniacally...then chokes on gum

Until the next update, thank you all for reading, and please, do your duty and review (be it positive or negative...but no flames!) :)

-orlieeeee


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